For those of you who haven’t heard, Saul Williams has released a new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, with the help of Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame – you knew that, right?). Trent Reznor’s influence is very noticeable, especially on tracks like WTF! – which, fittingly, starts off with background vocals from our good friend. Throughout the song you can feel Trent’s influence in the beat and the hard industrial sound, and Saul’s vocals flow so well over top of the myriad of sound Trent and CX KiDTRONiK have created. On the very next track the album switches gears, being fully composed by Saul. Overall the album is a diverse and interesting mix of styles, exactly what you would expect out of a collaboration between Trent and Saul. And it’s just as awesome as you think it would be. So far my favorite tracks are: WTF!, Tr(n)igger, Scared Money, Banged and Blown Through, and I believe Raised to be Lowered – though I must admit it’s hard to pick just a few. Most interesting is the cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday, which I actually found quite enjoyable (I’m not a huge U2 fan, but I suppose this is a “classic”). Skin of a Drum is also an exceptional song, with great percussion driving it’s pounding lyrics, making you feel the frustration in the words.
And now for the good part: You can get it for $5, or free. Yes, Radiohead did this with “In Rainbows” recently, but I think Trent and Saul have been planning this for some time – although people will claim they’re just trying to copy – I doubt it, considering Trent’s recent comments about the recording industry, and NIN’s break from their label. Not to mention, what you get for your $5 is quite amazing. The biggest difference is in the audio: with the $5 paid download, you can choose between 192Kbps MP3’s, 320Kbps, or FLAC Lossless – with the free version, you’re only option is 192Kbps. Both versions come with a nice PDF booklet that includes lyrics and some enjoyable art work. I personally suggest going with the FLAC version – it is the best quality, and if you need it in any other format, it’s somewhat trivial to convert from FLAC to WAV and then encode in your favorite format. I personally used xACT in OS X to convert to WAV, and then simply set up iTunes importing to convert it to my preferred format (Learn).
But enough of my talk, check it yourself – at least grab the free version, and if you like it, chip in the $5 and get one of the better formats. Believe me, it’s worth it.
